Business professor takes role as Emporia State general counsel

August 31, 2012

An Emporia State business professor who assumed general counsel duties on a part-time interim basis will take the permanent position.

Dr. Kevin Johnson, associate professor in the university’s School of Business, will begin his new role on Sunday, Sept. 2. The position was vacated this last summer when Tracy Greene took a similar role at South Dakota State University.

Johnson currently teaches four courses in the School of Business and will fulfill his teaching commitments for the 2012-13 academic year.

“I am excited to accept the additional role as general counsel for Emporia State University,” Johnson said.

Before joining the School of Business faculty in 1999, Johnson practiced law in Wichita. He had a general practice from 1981 until the early 1990s when he began focusing on business representation.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Wichita State University and a juris doctor from Washburn University School of Law. He is licensed to practice law in the state and federal courts of Kansas, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals an in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Our search for a new general counsel drew candidates from across the United States,” said Dr. Michael D. Shonrock, president of Emporia State University. “Kevin had everything we were looking for: legal expertise as well as a deep understanding of the higher education system and especially Emporia State.”

Johnson currently is past president of the Emporia State faculty, serving as president during the 2011-12 academic year. He also has served on the Student Learning (Assessment) Committee, Tuition and Budget Committee and Ethics Committee. He also is director of the Kansas Business Hall of Fame, housed at Emporia State University, a position he will continue through the organization’s annual meeting in November.

Emporia State University is a dynamic and progressive student-centered learning community that fosters student success through engagement in academic excellence, community and global involvement, and the pursuit of personal and professional fulfillment.